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Yamaha’s Bottom Line
Can Yamaha make as good a sub as its processors?
By Max Christoffersen
July 2001
Yamaha YST SW800 subwoofer. $2199
Think
Yamaha audio and chances are you won’t think speakers. You may think
DSP processors, integrated amplifiers, CD, DVD players and tuners. But
speakers?
Probably not. And most probably not subwoofers either.
It’s a strange thing that a company that makes the instruments we listen to aren't known for producing domestic speakers - and almost certainly not for subwoofers. But in 2001 Yamaha are trying to rectify this and they’ve come a long way back to form with their new YST range of subwoofers.
The new series does a lot of good things right. Not the least of which is producing a subwoofer that does the balancing act of being both conveniently useable, good looking and great sounding.
But let’s set the record straight. Yamaha can make speakers. A listen to the classic Yamaha NS1000 three-way speaker, or a look at the professional line of musical equipment confirms Yamaha can make great speakers. And that white coned speaker you see on almost every mixing console photo? It’s the Yamaha NS10. A very popular (if somewhat ordinary) studio monitor.
But they’ve never really made a truly great sounding subwoofer.
Yamaha has made some good ones, but nothing that really captured the bass-fiend’s
imagination.
But that may be changing.
This
new YST SW800 is a unique small foot-print design featuring a down firing
10" driver mated to an 800-watt amplifier and a large side port.
Cosmetically this sub is a winner. Its is the best looking subwoofer I
have seen in some time and with all controls (crossover, volume on/off)
of the front panel, means it is an easy unit to use. On the back there
are the controls for auto-power on, phase and the Audio/Video selector
and line level and speaker inputs.
In the 'engine-room' there is a heavy 10 pound magnet with a large 4 inch (!) voice coil. The unit also includes Yamaha’s Active-servo technology as well as a new sound-diffuser (like an upside down trapezoid golf tee) that is designed to maximise the typical subwoofer sweet spot and minimise the negative affect of poor room coupling. In short: stick it almost anywhere and chances are it will work well where other subwoofers may not. It’s designed to be placed a little out from room boundaries and in use I found it best about two-three feet from walls which allows the side-firing port to ‘breath’ and the sound-diffuser to... well... diffuse.
So onto the sonics. There seems to be two schools of thought on sub-bass. One is it doesn’t count unless the thump of a bottom end thud is heard loud, often and repetitively; the second is sub-bass is an integral part of music that can be subtle, essential and is sometimes best appreciated only when the sub level is low and well matched to the main satellites. So which camp is this sub actually in?
That can depend on how loud you drive this unit and also if you choose the video vs audio switch at the back that provides a ‘video soundtrack boost’ to give more bump and thump when film soundtrack calls for it.
But the direct answer really is that is a very good subwoofer. The sense
of bass weight and authority on the depth charge scenes from the DVD of
U571 was very satisfying. This is a very testing scene for bass
performance and some caution is recommended.
But with U571, you want fright-factor and tactile bass in spades
and the Yamaha provides it at high volume without any sense of over-driven
strain. There are also different textures of bass on this DVD and the
Yamaha was both bass weighty when the big hits came and suitably deep
and well-rounded for those near misses.
Couple that pleasing soundtrack performance with a meaty-solid-bass-body from Creed’s Human Clay 2CD set (Higher; Is This the End) and Yamaha are onto a killer product.
With the volume knob set at about 10 o’clock and the volume pushing 80 dB things were swinging nicely with Creed’s Higher which has prodigious bass body and genuine weight and impact. Truly heart stopping stuff!
On the down side there was some evidence of chuffing at the rather large mouth port, but only at extreme extension and only when the subwoofer was being asked to go outside its performance envelope.
In
short the Yamaha is a killer sub. It features a strong sense of tactile
slam when required but also is a very warm and well rounded player on
music. Combine that with good looks, good engineering and user-friendly
design and Yamaha appears to be back on the speaker block! And that’s
the bottom line!
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